Substation explosion near Nikitas causes total blackout across northern Cyprus
Aug 2025Published 7 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
- Where
- Substation near Nikitas, southwest of Morphou, northern Cyprus
- Operator
- Kib-Tek
- What
- Explosion in central circuit breakers damaged transformer
- Outcome
- Power fully restored after 18 hours
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Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): Kib-Tek
What happened
An explosion occurred at around 5am inside the central circuit breakers of a substation near the village of Nikitas, southwest of Morphou, in the Turkish Cypriot administered north of Cyprus. The blast caused serious damage to the substation's transformer. Kib-Tek, the area's electricity authority, said both of the north's power stations were automatically taken offline for safety reasons, causing the entire regional grid to collapse. Hospitals and police stations switched to diesel generators, traffic lights failed, an online government platform went offline, and water pumping was disrupted across several districts.
A later attempt to restore power failed within ten minutes after a fault at one power station. Power was gradually restored through the day and was fully restored roughly 18 hours after the explosion, at around 10pm.
Contributing factors
The explosion originated in the substation's central circuit breakers and damaged the transformer. A trade union leader publicly attributed the failure to inadequate maintenance and management shortcomings, while the electricity authority stated the substation was newly built and disputed claims of neglect.
Lessons learned
- An explosion in central circuit breakers can damage the transformer and force both power stations offline, so operators should verify automatic isolation settings at substations.
- A failed restoration attempt after ten minutes shows that reconnection must be staged and verified after a substation fault.
More lessons on electrical protection and isolation, from every incident on the register.
Not yet known
- Exact cause of the circuit breaker explosion
- Age and model of the substation equipment
- Cost of damage and outage
This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.
Source
Published 2026-09-07. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
